Back to a little update type blog-post, after the freaking MARATHON of 5 Days, 5 Facts... Not sure if I'll do that again - it did take ages and the comments-silence was deafening, but on the other hand several people tweeted and retweeted a link to the Format is Dead one - one person linked to the entire series of posts, which was great - and two library bloggers in particular (who I have loads of respect for and avidly read theblogs of) mentioned it, which was exciting. I know people post links to stuff all the time on Twitter, but I amnew so I was secretly thrilled…Anyhow, the mighty Library Routes Project rumbles on – thanks in part to a post on the influential Stephen’s Lighthouse blog, we now have a nicely transatlantic feel to the contributions, which is fabulous. At the time of writing there are 93 articles on there, and the page has been viewed nearly 10,000 times – so if anyone readying this hasn’t yet blogged on their roots + routes, and is comfortable sharing that story, then what are you waiting for! I made this picture below just for you… (I’m hoping to be nominated for ‘Most Absurd Use of A Graphics Programme To Create A Visual Expression Of a Phrase in 2009’ at the Eudublog awards.)

There’s been a few articles about it (the project, not that appalling picture) in various publications and a couple more to come – when I get a bit of time, I’ll collect them all together on my website. Talking of which, the events archive page has now been updated with a report of a recent REPRISE workshop in London which I’ve not had a chance to blog – it was all about digital curation and preservation, so only read the write-up if that’s what you’re in to.

In other news, I had my first committee meeting for the Career Development Group up in the Yorkshire & Humberside division of CILIP, and it was great – I felt very welcome, and have already got exciting things to be getting on with. One of these, which I’ll write a post about in the new year, is a potential New Professionals Network – some kind of online space, and events series, catering to those starting out on their library lives. I’m really excited about this, as their seems to be a real climate of new professionals doing interesting stuff, so if you have any suggestions for what you’d like to see a New Professionals Network do for you, please let me know via email or comment.

Incidentally, before the meeting we visited the oldest subscription library in the country, which happens to be in Leeds, and it was beautiful. Tucked away so well you could literally walk past it every day and not know it was there, this is a real hidden gem. I’ve never been one to fetishise old books or old libraries, but I can see what the fuss is about with this one – all spiral staircases up to balconied galleries, uneven floors and ancient shelves, and a general sense of dilapidated splendour. There was also a safe which used to contain a shotgun – apparently this was standard practice, for libraries to arm themselves, in the 1760s when this library was established. We may not have completely cracked Customer Service just yet, but clearly the industry has come a long way…

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I'm an information professional working in Higher Education. On this blog I write about communication, marketing libraries, useful technologies and presentation skills.

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